Fauna#
Fauna: Among the Central European fauna found in Austria are 398 vertebrates (82 species of mammals, 219 species of birds, 16 species of reptiles, 21 species of amphibians and 60 species of fish), some 30,000 species of insects (7,379 species of beetles, 1,570 species of large butterflies, 136 species orthopterans, 117 species of neuropterans and many others) as well as several 1,000 miscellaneous species of invertebrates (including 2 species of scorpions, 5 species of crabs and 435 species of molluscs).
The mountainous region is inhabited by Alpine Fauna. A special
feature of Austrian fauna is the Brown Bear. Some animal species
common to southern Europe found in Austria are the Rode Swallow, wall
lizard and the green lizard, the Aesculapian snake which can grow to
more than two m in length, and the checkered water snake, carpenter
bees, mountain cicadas and red admiral butterflies. Austria´s
climate is also characterised by the Pannonian climate region.
Amphibia, Reptiles, Fishes.
As many natural areas are increasingly cultivated and developed by man
(building of roads through mountainous regions, draining of swamps,
increased industrialisation, etc.) the number of Animals, Endangered
Species of is rising. In recent years six species of brooding birds
have disappeared: the sea eagle (some attempts to hatch young have
recently been made), the gull-billed tern, the least tern, the black
tern, the medrick tern, the sandpiper and the Spoonbill, after five
species of birds had already stopped hatching their young in Austria
in the 19th century (the glossy ibis, osprey (fish hawk,
fishing eagle), little bustard, redshank and scimitar-babbler;
isolated hatching attempts have been made recently by the
scimitar-babbler and the glossy ibis). However, several non-native
species have also made their home in Austria, such as Phylloxera
(brought in from the United States in 1872), the Bisam rat (came from
the north in 1911), the Turkish collared dove (since 1938 from
Hungary) and the raccoon.
Literature#
Catalogus Faunae Austriae, 1947ff.